Final Post

During Donald Trump’s campaign run for the seat of U.S President, the word “xenophobia” has been on the news and it seems that the description fit very well to his ideals. The majority of Trump’s supporters are people known to have racist ideals, so much so as to take their ideals and take violent actions based on them. It’s hard to fathom the reason behind this sort of thinking, having the most powerful technology at your fingertips, I would expect people to leave xenobia behind. Ignorance, a sense of superiority and racism, these are only some of the ideals I am tackling by making my zine. I know my project is small and insignificant but I do not plan to stop here, I wish to make more content that fights against the false portrayal of immigrants.



There is no direct connection to an activist or a piece of artwork that inspired me but I do get inspired by my parents, my friends, and others who do fall under the immigrant title. Although I have the privilege of being a U.S citizen, it does not make me immune to the comments people have made about immigrants. I see the anguish and pain hidden behind the fake smiles of my parents when we made the trip to Niagara falls but as a family could not cross into Canada. I sensed the fear in my father's hands when he drove meanwhile I was too young to get a license but I still practiced driving on a daily basis.

For my project I made a black and white photography zine. With living so close to one of the most diverse cities in the world, I took my pictures in New York. Initially I wanted to take portraits of immigrants who gave me permission to photograph them but I found it nearly impossible to find someone who was willing to share their status with me. Instead, I decided to take photographs that did involve immigrants but from an obscure angle and made an effort not to show their faces. In my final zine, I added some photographs that I did not have planned but I decided to include them in my zine. Photographs that didn’t have people as subjects are meant to depict what an immigrant my look at or something that would stand out to them as they walk through New york. I want the viewer to look at the photographs and experience what an immigrant would see and what sticks out in such an unfamiliar city. To a person who regularly visits New York, these photographs might be insignificant but to someone who hasn’t been to New York seeing them would create a connection to them.